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Hmmm. . .Babel eh?
Seems to me that what forms a minor incident in the Bible is for Tolkien the "whole" story. When the Elves 'awoke' they spoke a single language, but the instant they began to fragment and fall away from their destiny (that is, when the Avari decided not to go into the West, and when there were other houses of Elves that fell away on the journey into the West) that is when the original language of the Elves began to fragment and devolve into new languages.
This seems to happen again and again -- with every sundering (between Elves and Men, and then within the races themselves) there are new languages. It's like the Tower of Babel is falling all the time.
Only the Dwarves seem able to hold onto their common language, but only by hoarding it and keeping it secret and away from others. Their language is not really a 'living' tongue but kind of a museum piece.
This, however, has nothing to do with towers so I shall be quiet. Although I might say, the preponderence of towers might be some form of allusion to the Tower of Babel???
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Scribbling scrabbling.
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